1/10/07

Africa: not Darfur or AIDS for a change....


You have heard the catastrophic news about Darfur, AIDS and extreme poverty; you have seen the condescending look on people's face when the topic of immigration comes around, you have dodged the silly questions asking how Africa really is: "is it more like in Eddy Murphy' s Coming to America, Out of Africa or Blood Diamond ?" Yadi, yadi, yada....you get the picture.
Here is a novel concept about Africa:
"It provided a return on investment at 29%, higher than any other continent during the 90's."
It is not exactly a secret either since US multinational corporations have increased investment in Africa since the early 90's. The misconception of Africa's financial"worth" is a topic that will certainly be addressed in the TED conference that Hjk will attend. Still this assessment rings very true:
"Africa's profitability is one of the best kept secrets in today's world economy."
-- Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General



A few facts on Return on Investment (ROI) for Africa:
"Between 1983 and 1997, the rate of return for US companies in Africa has been above 10 per cent, except in 1986 (see graph). Net income from British direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding Nigeria) increased by 60 per cent between 1989 and 1995. And in 1995 Japanese affiliates in Africa were more profitable (after taxes) than in the early 1990s, and were more profitable than in Asia, where most Japanese investments are concentrated"
"US$299 million of a total of US$623 million in privatization sales were accounted for by foreign investors [..]
The principal home countries of TNCs (Trans National Corporations) investing in Africa in the 1982-96 period were the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. In recent years, France overtook the United Kingdom as the largest single country source of African Foreign Investment. At the same time FI flows to Africa from Asia have increased significantly, mainly from TNCs in the Republic of Korea and in Malaysia, as well as from Taiwan, Province of China and China."
OK, how about Madagascar ?
According to a World Bank survey, Madagascar is among the 30 countries in the world where it is the most difficult to conduct business. Still about USD 3 billion foreign funds have invested in Madagascar. So it cannot be that bad, can it ? Other facts:
-Major field of investment for US corporations: textile. No big surprise there.
Major advantage of investing in the "Big Red": Madagascar’s advantage is a low-wage, productive work force.... These reports are so predictable sometimes....;)
So there, if you actually want to hit the jackpot, go south young (wo)man !
Of course, this is merely an attempt at looking at the bright side of the picture for once. Because if you are not a multinational corporation, the Return On Investment is probably lower than advertised.

7 comments:

  1. Hi Lova,
    Tu l'as bien mentionné dans ton article, l'Afrique a beaucoup d'atout sur le plan économique en matière de mains d'oeuvres, matières premières etc et il y a beaucoup de chose à construire là bas. Par le biais de ces engagements internationaux et ce mobilisation mondiale qu'on est entrain de vivre ( exp. MDG), il y a de forte chance que bientôt la tendance de l'immigration ira "vers le sud" - et on se trouvera dans une situation ou ce sera a nous de réclamer le "visa" à tu sais qui :D ça parait utopique comme raisonnement mais ce n'est pas impossible dans quelques années :D

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  2. > hey Liangruipeng,
    At 1st, I thought you were on those millions of spams that I used to get by the dozen. I wouldn't mind $5,000 but I am too lazy to do anything to earn it. :) Thanks though
    > Hjk,

    Yep, got inspired by your post. I tried the trackback (retrolien) thing but it did not work. Still so many things to learn...:)
    "You know who" will have to dance the macarena in Analakely before I give him a visa, (if it were up to me) :)

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  3. désolé pour le retrolien ... pfff moi non plus j'ai du mal avec cette fonctionalité. maintenant je n'utilise que le permalink en guise de trackback.

    Pour revenir à ton post, je trouve qu'il est interessant :) tu as vu blood diamond alors ? j'ai hâte de le voir :) sa sortie est prévu le 31 janvier en France. Milay ve ?

    Bonne idée le macarena :)

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  4. Blood Diamond, a voir absolument. Un peu long mais le film evite les cliches faciles et tout le monde en prend pour son grade :), j'en dis pas plus ;).

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  5. Anonymous11:34 AM

    I am doing a large project on Madagascar, would you be able to help in any way? I am in the Chicago area and found your blog through a google search.
    If interested in helping in my college research project please contact me: K. Lemen klemen3@mail.com

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  6. >K lemen,
    I will be glad to be of any help :).
    Go Bears ! ;)

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  7. Hello JoGanita, :)

    we missed you around the sphere :). Thanks for the kind words, and you gotta tell us everything about your trip back "memory lane".

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